in F1. While he still performed to a good level, it knocked the wind out
of his career momentumsails whenthe whole point of forcing a loan
move to Renault had been to take the next step.
This year also startedpoorly, but not because ofwhat Sainz was
doing. He’s joked aboutseeing “many black cats” in the first three
Sainz’s first racefor the
Wokingteam, Australia,
ended in retirement and
he was pointless after
the first three races
F1 RACING AUGUST 2019 25SAINZ ISCAPABLE OF WINNING GRANDS PRIX,
NO QUESTION. THE DOUBT NOW IS WHETHER HE WILL
HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO WITH McLAREN
races, with traffic in qualifying, a Bahrain
clash with Verstappen and unreliability
leaving him pointless after three races. But
he’s since emerged as aconsistent scorer. In
Monaco, he showed how strong he is in a race
situation by passing both Toro Rosso drivers
on the first lap, while in Austria heexecuted a
brilliant race to finisheighth from the last row
of the grid. He might even have been a place
or two higher but for frontwing damagethat no
obvious mistake caused.
In Sainz, McLaren has something of a mini-
Alonso on its hands. Like Alonso, he’s not defined
by searing single-lap pace – although he’s plenty
quick enough – but he’s a relentlessperformer in
races. While some allow their heads to drop, Sainz
keeps plugging away and that has helped him take
some excellent results over his time in F1. At Toro
Rosso, Sainz scored points on average once every
2.2 races, a rate bettered only by Verstappen,
and clear of Sebastian Vettel. That ability to keepconsistent race pace has been key, alongwith
a capacityfor delivering superb drives in the
wet, such as Interlagos in 2016 and in the mixed
conditions of China in 2017.
Sainz is an intelligent character too, onewho
has perhaps also learned from the damage to
the Red Bull relationship done by the way he got
out of Toro Rosso to drive for Renault. If he can
become a slightly toned-down Alonso off-track- because no matter where you stand on the
two-times world champion’s virtuosity there were
times when he made life difficult for himself –
then that might make Sainz the perfect driver to
spearhead McLaren for years to come.
Considering what 2019 might havemeant
for Sainz, that’sperhaps theperfect outcome.
Whereas 12 months agoMcLaren was pe rhap s
Sainz’s only option,the question has spun 18 0
degreestoask whether McLaren cankeep holdof
him long enoughto ge t itself back tothe fr ont?
Sainz is capable of winning grands prix, no
question. The doubt now is whether hewill have
the opportunity to do so with McLaren, which
still has a long way to go to build on what has
undoubtedly been a superb season so far.
Now a consistent points
scorer, Sainz is undoubtedly
the senior partner of the
two McLaren drivers